Wait And Flee: Why You Have To Start Saving For Retirement Now

One of the more common missteps for those of any age really, but more concerning for those in their 50s, is forgetting about retirement until it’s too late. And what exactly is “too late”? Well, waiting too long might mean that you’re on the threshold of retiring and realize that you simply can’t. You don’t have enough money saved, or you haven’t planned your retirement aside from thinking about it and trying to save money here and there. That lackluster and lax attitude only is going to add years to the sentence that is working well into your 60s and maybe even 70s. As far as the younger crowd, those in their 20s, 30s and even early 40s, you can’t overlook retirement as something you can worry about when you “get older.” The time to save is always now as it relates to the future and having money set aside for your golden years. Taking a lesser approach could mean money left on the table and starting early, as in now, particularly when your company is begging you, enticing you, with free money if you start saving into a 401K that the company will match dollar for dollar as you start to invest in your future. The average person with 30 years left to retire will amass approximately $250,000 to put toward their life after 65, so this is taking into account a person thinking about retiring at 35 years of age. If you wait until you’re 40, your magic number is $400. That figure is what you’ll have to save above and beyond since you missed those five years from 35 to 40. In short, starting five years earlier is going to mean you'll have about $100,000 more at the end of your working career and to put toward retiring. Provided you don’t have any other savings and your only source of retirement is that 401K that is sitting at around a quarter of a million, you’ll be affording yourself a little over $1,000 per month out of that fund. Figure that number is almost cut in half by just waiting five more years to start saving. That five years of waiting doesn’t seem like a lot, but it translates into a boatload of cash when you turn 65. Furthermore, if you choose to wait, you can make up that difference, but that money means you’ll have to up your retirement contribution and hope that isn’t going to fool with your current budget for life at the moment. Retirement isn’t optional; it’s something we’ll all face at some point, but whether or not the transition from working to not is seamless depends on how much you’ll procrastinate on getting started.